Free download
A better SCR spreadsheet. Free, honestly limited.
If your Single Central Record lives in a spreadsheet, it should at least be a good one: one row per person, KCSIE-shaped check columns with Yes / N-A dropdowns so a blank is visibly a gap, role-specific columns so teachers and managers aren't squeezed into the same row, and a guidance sheet your next DSL can pick up cold.
No sign-up, no email gate. Free to use, adapt and share within your trust. Not statutory advice — verify the column set against the current edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education and your own policy before relying on it.
What's in it
Shaped like the checks, not like a list.
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The person
Name as verified on ID, former names, role, school, engagement type (employee / supply / volunteer / governor / contractor), start date
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Identity & right to work
Status, date and who verified — for both checks, separately
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DBS & barred list
Enhanced DBS and barred-list check — status, date, verifier; no certificate numbers (data minimisation applies to safeguarding records too)
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Role-specific checks
Prohibition from teaching (teaching roles) and s.128 direction (management roles) — so the matrix matches the role, not a one-size row
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Overseas & qualifications
Overseas checks and qualification verification where the role requires them
Said plainly
What no spreadsheet can do.
- ✕ Chase expiring checks, or remind anyone about the DBS Update Service window
- ✕ Prove who changed what, when — a spreadsheet has no audit trail an inspector can trust
- ✕ Assemble inspection evidence — someone rebuilds it by hand, usually the week it matters
- ✕ Stop a typo in row 141 from becoming a finding
That list is why the template is free: it's the honest ceiling of the format, including the file you're using now. When the trust outgrows it, the SCR product is the same record with the chasing, tamper-evident audit trail, Inspector Mode and four-format export built in — and the importer reads this sheet saved as CSV, so nothing you type here is wasted.
The MAT year planner goes with it.
The operations rhythm on one A4 sheet — censuses, check sweeps, board packs, works windows.